He was nicknamed “Coach” by his team-mates during his five years at the Emirates as they could see his determination to move into management.

The former Gunners captain divided opinion in the dressing room.

That nickname was not necessarily meant in the most flattering way — some players thought he was too 'busy' and always trying to interfere in decisions.

But even then, Arteta was viewed as outstanding managerial material and never hid his desire to move into coaching, which is one of the reasons he has emerged as the hot favourite to be the next Arsenal boss.

Former Arsenal captain Arteta is expected to return as Wenger's successor in a new coaching structure (Image: Arsenal FC/Getty)

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has already confirmed he will not stand in Arteta’s way if he wants to leave the champions' backroom staff to succeed the now-departed Arsene Wenger.

Arsenal are planning for the future by building a new behind-the-scenes set-up to fit around a 'head coach' figure rather than a new manager, with Arteta the leading candidate for the role.

Another Gunners favourite, former midfielder Freddie Ljungberg, is expected to return to the club as Under-23s manager in the hope of creating a better link between the first team and youngsters coming through.

The Spaniard lifted the FA Cup in 2015 before retiring a year later to join Man City as a coach (Image: Paul Gilham)

Current first team coaches Steve Bould and Jens Lehmann have been asked to stay while others - including Gerry Peyton, Boro Primorac and Neil Banfield - are leaving.

Mirror Football also understands physio Colin Lewin is also going as part of a reshuffle in the medical staff, and was told on Monday morning.

Lehmann is expected to remain, but Bould is believed to be weighing up his options and it is understood there is interest from relegated hometown club Stoke, the team he left to join the Gunners in 1988.

Invincibles legend Ljungberg is set to return after a spell on the staff of Germany's Wolfsburg (Image: Bongarts/Getty)

The fact Arteta - who is hugely respected, and is the choice of chief executive Ivan Gazidis - used to be unpopular with some players is actually seen as a good thing among the hierarchy.

They want someone to be tough, authoritative and clear in his coaching ideas. They like the fact that he is regarded as a top-class coach and is young at just 36.

Arsenal appreciate it would be seen as a gamble but Juventus boss Max Allegri has insisted he is staying, while clubless former Barcelona coach Luis Enrique appears to have priced himself out of the running.

Monaco’s Leonardo Jardim appears to be the only remaining experienced candidate.

Fan reaction to appointing Arteta would be a concern, but Wenger was a relative unknown when he took over in 1996 while George Graham came from Millwall a decade earlier.

This is a club with a reputation for somewhat left-field appointments.

There is also likely to be a turnover of players.

Monaco's Jardim is the big threat to Arteta as Arsenal lean towards naming a young boss (Image: AFP/Getty)

Arsenal are looking to ship out defensive flop Shkodran Mustafi and must decide whether to sell midfielder Aaron Ramsey, who has only a year left on his contract and is unsure about his future.

They want vastly experienced centre-back Jonny Evans, who is available for just £3million after West Brom's relegation, and Bayer Leverkusen keeper Bernd Leno, who has a £22m buy-out clause.

All in all this promises to be a huge summer for the Gunners, but their record signing Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang insists the Londoners have shown enough in the five months since he joined to prove there are better times ahead.

Bundesliga star Leno is on the hit list with the Gunners after a new No1 goalkeeper (Image: TF-Images/Getty)

January-buy striker Aubameyang said: “These last weeks we played well and have a lot of young players and it’s good for the future.

“I had not a lot of time to work with him (Wenger) but I learned a lot. I think at the beginning it was hard because physically I was not ready. I did not play in January all month.

“After big work with the staff I found my form again. I’ve scored some goals and thanks to my team mates of course because we worked for that.”

Smash-hit January buy Aubameyang ensured Wenger signed off with a victory (Image: Reuters)

Aubameyang, who netted the winner in Sunday's season finale away to Huddersfield to give him 10 goals in 13 Premier League appearances for Arsenal, was also keen to give Wenger a big send-off and revealed they cheered him out of the dressing room after the last training session.

He added: “We make some applause and we talked a lot already.

“This is the life, this is football and sometimes you never know [what can happen]. I was happy to play for him.”